You're Gonna Be (Always Loved By Me)

First of all, I want to share my excitement in Jackson taking his first bottle! I was having trouble with my new electric pump so I resorted to the manual and only had the attention span to get 50 ml (2 oz). But I start back teaching tomorrow and wanted to make sure David would be able to feed Jackson if he got hungry. Of course, being the worry wart I am, I carefully selected two different brands of nipples (most like my own) and read all the books for advise. I left the room while David settled down with him and he took the bottle immediately! I was so proud of both of them! This means that my boy won't have to go hungry while I teach and I can still teach without having to worry about if my boy is hungry! After Jackson took the bottle he was still hungry (50 ml is not enough) so I nursed him and he took right away to me, too! No nipple confusion! WOOHOO! Go son! But he overindulged and ended up spitting up. He'll learn...eventually. But he is a voracious eater. Sounds like a donkey every time he eats. He is growing and fitting into more of his clothes (finally) much to the dismay of his Nana who asks that he hold out on the growing thing for another 12 days until she can get here. Tomorrow is his first doctor's appointment and I am keen to see how much he has grown.
David fixed my electric pumped last night and this morning I pumped 110 ml! Go mommy!!

Back to the hospital in the post-natal ward...
Visiting hours were from 10 - 1 and 3 - 8. None of the husbands or partners were allowed to stay overnight so David was able to sleep soundly at home. He usually came to see us around 8am (they aren't too strict with visiting hours except at night) and stayed until they kicked him out. He was such a good husband - bringing me a spicy fruit loaf, sprite and bananas (which I still crave every time I nurse), and other essentials that I needed from home.
My friend Bianca (who is 6 weeks off of giving birth) came to visit Tuesday morning. And Tuesday afternoon my catheter and IV came out and I was able to walk around and take a shower. It was a tad painful, but not too bad. I was really glad to take a shower! I got to know the midwives on shift and there were three who were particularly wonderful and helpful: Cathy during the day, Jenny during the evening, and Bev during the night shift. Bianca came back to visit again Tuesday night and then she and her mother Emma came to see us on Wednesday. Jackson spent a lot of time catching up on sleep and I spent time watching him catch up on sleep.

One memorable moment of the first night was his first poop. I was sitting there with him in the bed with me gazing at how lovely he was when all of a sudden I heard this massive explosive sound... I knew right away what he had done, but since I still couldn't get out of bed I paged Jenny and said "I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but I think he just pooped". Jenny changed his diaper and I am happy to say that was the only time I had to ask someone else to change him for me. You should also know that I am horribly obsessed with his poop. Must be a mom thing.

On Wednesday I noticed he was a bit jaundiced (not too bad). He was a bit of a lazy eater in the early days - I guess it was too much work to get the colostrum out before my milk came in and he was tired from the whole birth ordeal. That night, Jenny helped me express colostrum into a medical syringe and we fed him with that. His jaundice went away as soon as my milk came in on Thursday. Ever since he has been an eager eater.

In the wee hours of Thursday morning I asked to be discharged. I had originally planned to stay till Friday, but I couldn't handle my neighbor anymore. While Jackson and all the other moms and babies slept (or tried to sleep) soundly in the same room, the girl next to me REFUSED to feed her baby. She let the poor thing cry and cry and cry... wouldn't even pick him up. At one point she just left him in his cot screaming and went to take a shower. The poor baby cried ALL night. Her problem was that breastfeeding hurt and she wanted to express milk to feed to him. But it was too late to do that and she was forbidding formula so the nurses were powerless. By the next morning, the baby had cried himself hoarse. I have never heard such a heartbreaking sound in all my life. I couldn't put up with it anymore, and luckily I was cleared to go home so we started the discharge process. By the way, they ended up calling Social Services on the girl who told the worker that "they wouldn't let me feed him". She was just plain crazy. This is the same girl who peed her bed because it was too painful to get up and use the toilet. And who screamed bloody murder when her catheter came out (it tickled at most). And who pounded on the side of the cot to calm her hungry baby down because it resembled a heart beat. Crazy.

So that pretty much brings us up to discharge day... they checked me out, checked Jackson over and around 5:00pm that night we were allowed to leave. I dressed Jackson in his going home clothes courtesy of Aunt Holly and Nana, and David proudly carried Jackson out in his new capsule and escorted me to the car. It was a bit surreal when we got home. David cooked me a dinner and dessert, and fed it to me while I nursed Jackson. I was up that night every two hours (I pretty much still am give or take), but didn't really sleep as like all new parents was paranoid about if he was still breathing in his room. All went well. He is a good boy.

More later... must feed baby. Like my friend has recently said "I am living the extraordinary life of a dairy cow".